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Board of Internal Economy meeting

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Meeting Minutes

Thursday, February 27, 2020

A meeting of the Board of Internal Economy of the House of Commons was held on Thursday, February 27, 2020, at 11:19 a.m., in Room 225-A, West Block.

In the Chair: The Honourable Anthony Rota, Speaker of the House of Commons

Present: The Honourables Mark Holland, Dominic LeBlanc, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Pablo Rodríguez and Candice Bergen; Mr. Mark Strahl, Ms. Claude DeBellefeuille and Mr. Peter Julian

Secretary to the Board: Charles Robert, Clerk of the House of Commons

Also Present: Michel Patrice, Deputy Clerk, Administration; Philippe Dufresne, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel; Stéphan Aubé, Chief Information Officer; Susan Kulba, Director General, Real Property; Jennifer Garrett, Director General, Public Services and Procurement Canada; Duncan Retson, Regional Director General, Public Services and Procurement Canada; Daniel Paquette, Chief Financial Officer; Elaine Valiquette, Senior Director, Financial Planning, Resource Management and Corporate Policies; José Fernandez, Deputy Chief Financial Officer; Benoit Giroux, Chief Operations Officer, Parliamentary Precinct Operations; Pierre Parent, Chief Human Resources Officer; Colette Labrecque-Riel, Clerk Assistant and Director General, International and Interparliamentary Affairs; Eric Janse, Clerk Assistant, Committees and Legislative Services Directorate; Guillaume LaPerrière-Marcoux, Secretariat

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

The minutes of the meeting of December 12, 2019, were adopted and approved for tabling.


BUSINESS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS

The Board noted correspondence distributed since its last meeting.


SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON CANADA–CHINA RELATIONS

The Board approved an interim budget of $50,000 for the Special Committee on Canada–China Relations, to be allocated from the 2019–2020 and/or 2020–2021 global budget envelopes for standing committees.


PARLIAMENTARY PRECINCT LONG TERM VISION AND PLAN

Michel Patrice, Deputy Clerk, Administration, Susan Kulba, Director General, Real Property, and Jennifer Garrett, Director General, Public Services and Procurement Canada, presented an update to the Board on the Centre Block rehabilitation project and, with Duncan Retson, Regional Director General, Public Services and Procurement Canada, answered questions.


QUARTERLY FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2019–2020

Daniel Paquette, Chief Financial Officer, presented the House of Commons’ financial results for the third quarter of 2019–2020 (as at December 31, 2019), along with comparative information relating to the third quarter of the previous fiscal year and, with Benoit Giroux, Chief Operations Officer, answered questions.


ALIGNMENT OF CARRY-FORWARD POLICIES

Daniel Paquette, Chief Financial Officer, presented the alignment of carry-forward policies. The Board agreed to the following:


1. That Members and Presiding Officers be entitled to carry forward the unspent portion of their previous fiscal year’s approved budget to a maximum of 5% of the previous fiscal year’s approved annual budget, and that this amendment come into effect immediately;

2. That, under the revised policy:

a. House Officers continue to be entitled to any unspent funds up to a maximum of 5% of their previous year’s approved budget;

b. following the calculation of the individual carry forward entitlement, a second carry-forward entitlement will be calculated based on the combined budgets of all House Officers within a caucus (excluding the budget of the national caucus research office). This calculation will take into account the total of the unspent funds of all House Officers, up to a maximum of 5% of their combined budgets; if the carry-forward entitlement calculated based on the combined budgets exceeds the sum of the carry-forward entitlement of each House Officer, the difference would be added to the individual carry-forward of each House Officer based on their budget as a proportion of the total caucus budget;

c. this recommendation come into effect immediately; and

3. That the Members’ Allowances and Services Manual be amended in accordance with the approved recommendations.


USE OF HOUSE RESOURCES TO HOLD AN EVENT IN A CONSTITUENCY OFFICE

The Board discussed the use of House resources with respect to an event that was held in a constituency office. The Board took note of correspondence received from the Member and agreed that no further action was required.


At 12:39 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 1:05 p.m., the sitting resumed in camera.


LEGAL MATTERS

The Board agreed to a reimbursement in relation to a legal matter.

The Board considered and denied a request by a former Member to appear before it to make submissions with respect to a request relating to a legal matter. The Board also denied the Member’s underlying request.


COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

The Board took note of the arbitral award rendered by the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board following collective bargaining for the Operational Group and the Postal Services Sub-Group bargaining unit.

The Board approved a revised collective bargaining mandate for the renewal of House of Commons collective agreements.

The Board approved economic increases for unrepresented employees for fiscal years 2018–2019 and 2019–2020.


The meeting was adjourned.

Charles Robert
Secretary to the Board of Internal Economy